This is an interesting question as it all depends on what effect it has on the downswing. Swings have definitely changed over the decades in particular the length of swing. When I was starting out, I was always told to swing the club to parallel. You would see swings such as Greg Norman, Fred Couples and Ernie Els all have quite lengthy backswings. Now in the past decade, there has been a noticeable difference in Pros shortening their swing. This is mainly due to the belief that a more compact swing tends to be more efficient.
Now the answer to whether you need to lengthen or shorten the swing all depends on how much turn you're able to create on the backswing. I had a gentleman come in for a lesson with a belief that a shorter swing would be more beneficial. However after we placed the swing on camera, I could see that due to not creating enough shoulder turn on the backswing, he would often force the swing by using his hands and arms.
His typical position on the backswing would be where his left arm would finish parallel to the ground. This only enabled him to create around 50% of his potential power. We then worked on exercises such as placing a club behind his shoulders and practicing moving his left shoulder under his chin. This also enabled him to create more hip turn which in turn again, created more power. Once he was able to lengthen his swing, he was then placing himself in a great position at the top of the backswing and furthermore enabling him to move efficiently onto the front foot. In a nutshell he was now using his body to generate power instead of his arms.
There are of course situations where I would go about shortening a player's swing. This is typically in situations where the player hasn't hinged their wrists until late in their swing. Sometimes players think too much about keeping the left arm straight instead of allowing their wrists to hinge. Once the wrists start to hinge gradually through the swing along with body turn, the swing tends to naturally get shorter. As long as the left shoulder is passing under the chin with a 45 degree hip turn, the swing can then start the downswing.
If you'd like any further advice, just contact myself at David Waters Golf located at Emerald Lakes Golf Coaching Centre.
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